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I moved to the Cincinnati area in 1990 so I was spoiled to experience the Reds World Series win. However truth be told they were not my favorite team - that distinction belonged to the Toronto Blue Jays.

At first I did not like Joe as an announcer. He came across as old and a bit boring. Yet over the years my heart changed about him and the Reds. His love for the Reds always showed because it was natural. He is Mr. Red.

I will cherish that I got to listen to him for as long as I did. Nuxie was one of a kind.

You know, it's strange, but I had a thought yesterday afternoon...while reading through the thread about voting for Joe's HoF induction, and about how he had been re-admitted to the hospital, the thought struck me: this is one of those things where you're going to wake up one morning and hear that he's gone. Pneumonia, cancer, etc. = not good things.

My brother and I grew up in Va. Beach straining through the static to hear the Reds games on WLW. On those clear nights when Joe and Marty sounded like they were broadcasting the game right next door, it was magical.

I smacked my snooze alarm this morning and turned on the TV. His passing was the first thing I heard. Woke me up real quick. VERY sad about it! I have to say though, he had an absolutely amazing life and was an amazing man. He will never be forgotten!

I've been a bit philosophical this week. Earlier in the week, I got an email that an old friend passed away at the end of October - someone I'd known many years ago, but hadn't seen in some time. He was just a few years old than me and my wife and I knew him and his family at our church. So I'd been pondering my own mortality a bit anyway. Both my wife and I are acutely aware of the finite nature of life - we both still have all of our parents; hers are 85, mine are Nuxie's age - 79. We understand completely how blessed we are.

Then yesteray, I get a magazine called Sojourners, and the man I consider my own spiritual father, a priest I met while in high school, had an article in there about aging titled "Forever Young". Now this morning I wake up to hear of Joe passing away. I went back and looked at the article on line and liked the closing where my friend wrote

Then there is nothing to regret, reject, fear, or deny. All is re-membered, re-gathered, and re-loved. Such elders are already home and forever young. So strange, however, that you have to be old to be young.

In many ways, Joe was the "elder" of the Reds, not in some religious sense, but in the sense of a common thread back through numerous generations. We're seeing a collective mourning. Someone described it well, a favorite uncle or such.

“In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

“On behalf of the entire Nuxhall family we wish to express our deepest gratitude for the tremendous outpouring of prayers, well wishes, cards and messages during this very difficult time. Dad felt that he truly had three extended families during his career....The great City of Hamilton, Ohio where he grew up.....Fairfield, Ohio where he raised his children and Cincinnati, Ohio where he was able to play and broadcast the great game of baseball with the Cincinnati Reds. We will be eternally grateful to the Cincinnati Reds organization and the fans who provided us with experiences and memories of a lifetime. Dad truly loved you all. Respectfully, Kim Nuxhall

I've chatted with my two younger kids. My son has his "Beat Michigan" sweatshirt on, but will be wearing his Reds cap today and his away message on IM says "RIP Nuxie". My daughter has to work in her Financial Aid office, but said she'd wear red socks in Nux's honor. I brought 'em up right.

“In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

Sad day for Reds fans, Joe was the counter point to Marty, he was a former player who found it distasteful to rip other players from the booth, from his era and the ones he watched from up high. He forever was reminding us that the game was not easy, that it was played by humans and that they too had faults. He wasn't a polished stone, but he was a gem.

I've chatted with my two younger kids. My son has his "Beat Michigan" sweatshirt on, but will be wearing his Reds cap today and his away message on IM says "RIP Nuxie". My daughter has to work in her Financial Aid office, but said she'd wear red socks in Nux's honor. I brought 'em up right.

I will be doing the same thing today. I had planned on wearing Ohio State stuff today, but it will be replaced by a Reds' shirt and hat in a silent tribute to Joe.

Man, this is eating me up, so sad because Nuxie was a voice of my childhood.

I'll never forget this Nuxhall story. Back in one of the final years at Riverfront, my friend and I went to a game with his dad. We stayed after the game to try and get a few autographs (and let traffic clear out). Well, we were getting a ton of autographs and having a great time. All of a sudden, we hear a big car horn toot behind us. Joe Nuxhall was sitting there honking his horn in his big old conversion van. So we went running over, and Joe goes "I saw you guys getting autographs here so I thought I'd stop by because I don't want to sit in all this d**n traffic!"

So we all got autographs and he even stuck around and talked with us. My friend's dad was like a kid in a candy shop, Joe was one of his heroes growing up. But Joe was just a great guy seeing a group of fans and driving over to offer to sign an autograph and meet them.

I'll also always remember when I was younger, I decided to send out letters to players asking for autographs. I usually had pretty good success but I always had to wait a long while to get them back. Well, I wrote Joe a letter with 2 baseball cards and sent it out on a Monday. On Friday I got my self addressed stamped envelope back with autographs included. He not only autographed my two cards but he included 2 others autographed as well as a postcard of himself (probably from back in his playing days - very old in black and white). On the back of the post card, he wrote "Thank you for the nice letter."

I missed Nuxhall's peak, it was only in the later years that I got to hear him, but he still was a joy to listen to. It became a bit of a special occasion when he did a series recently, I'd make sure I got to listen to a game no matter what. I always loved hearing him in the background rooting on a home run ball during one of Marty's innings, that will probably stick with me the most.

For my birthday this year a friend of mine got me a Reds t-shirt that he had taken and had Nuxhall's name and number put on the back. He figured Joe summed up Reds baseball better than anyone. I think I'll wear that when I go out tonight.

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